The Most Fertile Woman: 39-Year-Old Mother From Uganda Has 38 Biological Children From The Same Man

Jan 31, 2019 by apost team

In East Africa, a mom struggles to raise her 38 biological children. Yes, that’s not a typo.

At age 39, Mariam Nabatanzi has a record number of living children - 38. Can you imagine? Here’s her story.

Mariam’s story first reached the world after documentarian Kassim Kayira, a former BBC journalist, interviewed her and published pictures and videos of the story on Facebook and YouTube.

According to Kassim, Mariam’s story begins when she was married off by her family at the tender age of 13. Her husband was allegedly abusive from the start. While this isn’t an uncommon tale for East African child brides, the family situation that followed is certainly unique and jaw dropping.

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Over less than three decades, Mariam would give birth to 44 babies, six of whom didn’t survive. She had all these children in her own home. All but the youngest was born vaginally and without pain medications. It’s unclear why exactly the youngest, who’s still an infant, was born via c-section.

The oldest child is 23-years old. The genders of the children are 10 girls and 28 are boys. Three sets are twins. Three sets are quadruplets. Four sets are triplets. Eight are single births.

According to Mariam, she had sought medical advice about her thriving and unusual state of fertility, but she was told that there was nothing that could be done to change her situation.

Mariam’s husband, who is the father of all her children, apparently abandoned his family after their last child was born. In Kassim’s interview, Mariam shares that it should be a crime and that leaving children behind without parental love is something they’ll never recover from enduring.

She tells men to share the responsibilities, not leave the women.

A crowdfunding page has been set up for Mariam by Karo Omu, a Ugandan who heard her story and was moved to help.

The goal is Sh28.8 million, which will then be delivered to Mariam to help ensure basic essentials and healthcare are available and that the family may even have some opportunity to make their own money, such as by starting a business.

Mariam has been labeled the most fertile mother in Uganda. Now, some are wondering how she stacks up in history. According to Guinness World Records, Mariam still has a couple dozen pregnancies to go to take the title of most prolific mom. It seems a Russian lady, named Mrs. Feodor Vassilyev, from the 1700s holds the record with 69 births.

Can you imagine giving birth this many times and having this many mouths to feed alone? If this story moved you, leave us your thoughts and questions and feel free to pass this along to your friends and family!